Method for producing uranium oxide and a non-radioactive fluorine compound from uranium tetrafluoride and a solid oxide compound

ABSTRACT

A method for producing uranium oxide includes combining uranium tetrafluoride and a solid oxidizing agent having a lower thermodynamic stability than the uranium oxide; heating the combination below the vapor point of the uranium tetrafluoride to sufficiently react the uranium tetrafluoride and the oxidizing agent to produce uranium oxide and a non-radioactive fluorine compound; and removing the fluorine compound.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a method for producing uranium oxide and more particularly to a method for converting uranium tetrafluoride into uranium oxide and producing a non-radioactive fluorine compound which is free of contaminants.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Uranium is a naturally occurring element which is comprised of approximately 0.7%²³⁵ U and 99.3%²³⁸ U. ²³⁵ U is used to produce Nuclear Energy, while ²³⁸ U is not. Because of the low percentage of ²³⁵ U found in naturally occurring uranium, naturally occurring uranium must be enriched in order to obtain sufficient amounts of ²³⁵ U to support nuclear fission. This enrichment process, aside from producing high concentrations of ²³⁵ U, produces huge amounts of depleted uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) by-product which is a very hazardous compound posing a serious health threat. Since depleted uranium metal is radioactive and expensive to produce, it is used in limited quantities for highly specialized applications. Accordingly, alternative uses are needed in order to avoid having to dispose of the UF₆ at great expense by storing it indefinitely. One solution to reducing the large stores of UF₆ is to convert the UF₆ into uranium oxide, e.g. UO₂ or U₃ O₈.

One use for uranium oxide is to add it to the concrete which is used to build bunkers in which radioactive waste is stored in order to provide high density shielding for the stored high level radioactive waste. Uranium oxide possesses outstanding radioactive shielding properties and when added to concrete in the form of aggregate makes a very effective, low cost shielding material.

There are many methods which can be used to convert UF₆ into uranium oxide. Many of these methods also produce potentially valuable by-products. However, methods which are currently used to convert the UF₆ into uranium oxide taint these valuable by-products with radioactive uranium, rendering the by-products commercially unusable, requiring additional processing to remove the radioactivity, as well as additional contaminants, or disposing of the by-products as low level radioactive waste.

The most common method for producing uranium oxide includes reacting uranium hexafluoride with steam (H₂ O) and hydrogen (H₂). This produces uranium oxide and hydrogen fluoride gas (HF). However, because the products and reactants are mixed in the gas phase, this HF gas, although having economic value, is contaminated by unreacted uranium thus reducing its value as discussed above. Moreover, it is highly diluted with water, due to the steam, further reducing its value.

Another method for producing uranium oxide reacts UF₆ With H₂ to produce uranium tetrafluoride (UF₄) and HF gas. The UF₄ is then reacted with steam to produce a uranium oxide, UO₂ or U₃ O₈, and HF gas. However, the reverse reaction is so strong that tremendous amounts of steam must be used to avoid a reverse reaction. This not only requires a large amount of energy to produce the steam, but again produces a highly diluted hydrogen fluoride product that has little commercial value, requiring further processing to obtain a valuable product. Moreover, complete conversion to uranium oxide is nearly impossible thereby degrading the uranium oxide's suitability for making concrete and thus the value of the uranium oxide produced.

Accordingly, the major drawbacks of the presently preferred methods are that the HF is diluted and contaminated with some amount of uranium making it commercially unusable. Thus, while HF has some economic value, the uranium contamination reduces this value and further provides yet another storage dilemma, as encountered with all radioactive waste, or additional processing to purify the HF.

Moreover, these methods are very expensive. Thus, an economical way to convert UF₆ to uranium oxide is needed in order to make use of the large quantities of UF₆ in storage and produce commercially valuable by-products which are not radioactive and require no additional processing.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method for producing uranium oxide from uranium tetrafluoride;

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method which produces uranium oxide without radioactive by-products.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method which produces a fluorine compound which is free from radioactive contaminants;

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method which produces a fluorine compound which is undiluted with water;

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method which completely reacts the uranium tetrafluoride into uranium oxide.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method which is cost effective to implement;

The invention results from the realization that a truly efficient and cost effective method for producing uranium oxide can be achieved by combining uranium tetrafluoride and a solid oxidizing agent, having a lower thermodynamic stability than any uranium oxide produced, in stoichiometric proportion so that when the combination is heated to a temperature below the vapor or melting point of the uranium tetrafluoride or the solid oxide the uranium tetrafluoride completely reacts with the oxidizing agent to produce uranium oxide and a volatile fluorine compound free from radioactive carryover and other contaminants.

This invention features a method for producing uranium oxide including combining uranium tetrafluoride and a solid oxidizing agent having a lower thermodynamic stability than the uranium oxide to be produced, heating the combination below the vapor point of the uranium tetrafluoride to sufficiently react the uranium tetrafluoride and the oxidizing agent to produce uranium oxide and non-radioactive fluorine compound, and removing the fluorine compound.

In a preferred embodiment, the uranium tetrafluoride and the oxidizing agent are combined in stoichiometric proportion. The oxidizing agent may include a solid metal oxide that reacts with uranium tetrafluoride to produce a volatile fluorine compound. The oxidizing agent may include a solid metal oxide that reacts with the uranium tetrafluoride to produce a gaseous fluorine compound. The method may further include introducing oxygen to the reaction. Heating may include heating the combination in a temperature range of 400° C. to 1000° C. The oxidizing agent may be selected from the group of oxides of phosphorus, germanium, arsenic, thallium, antimony, titanium, zirconium, tungsten and niobium. The uranium oxide produced may include U₃ O₈. The fluorine compound produced may include PF₅, AsF₃, SbF₅, SbF₃, WIF₆, or TlF. The uranium oxide produced may include UO₂. The fluorine compound produced may includedl GeF₂, GeF₄, NbF₅, TiF₄, or ZrF₄. The oxidizing agent may include B₂ O₂. The uranium oxide produced may include U₃ O₈ and the fluorine compound may include BF₃. The uranium tetrafluoride may be powdered and the oxidizing agent may be granular or powdered. Heating may include heating the combination below the melting point of the oxidizing agent. Heating may include heating the combination below the melting point of the uranium tetrafluoride.

The invention also features uranium oxide produced by the combining uranium tetrafluoride and a solid oxidizing agent having lower thermodynamic stability than the uranium oxide to be produced, heating the combination below the vapor point of the uranium tetrafluoride to sufficiently react the uranium tetrafluoride and the oxidizing agent to produce the uranium oxide and a non-radioactive fluorine compound, and removing the fluorine compound.

In a preferred embodiment the uranium oxide may be UO₂. The uranium oxide may be U₃ O₈.

The invention also features boron trifluoride produced by combining uranium tetrafluoride and boric oxide, heating the combination below the vapor point of the uranium tetrafluoride to sufficiently react the uranium tetrafluoride and the boric oxide to produce a uranium oxide and the boron trifluoride, and removing the boron trifluoride.

DISCLOSURE OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of a preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the method for producing uranium oxide according to the present invention;

FlG. 2 is a flow chart of the method for producing uranium oxide according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the apparatus used to produce the uranium oxide and fluorine product according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a representation of an x-ray diffraction analysis performed on the uranium oxide produced according to the method of the present invention compared to a standard x-ray diffraction pattern for UO₂ ;

FIG. 5 is a representation of an x-ray diffraction analysis performed on the uranium oxide produced according to the method of the present invention compared to a standard x-ray diffraction pattern for U₃ O₈ ;

FIG. 6 is a representation of an x-ray diffraction analysis performed on sodium fluoride, obtained from reacting the fluorine compound produced according to the method of the present invention with a scrubbing agent, compared to a standard x-ray diffraction pattern for sodium fluoride to verify the presence of the fluorine compound produced; and

FIG. 7 is a representation of an x-ray diffraction analysis, similar to FIG. 5, in which the x-ray diffraction is performed on sodium fluoroborate obtained from reacting the fluorine compound BF₃ with a scrubbing agent.

Uranium hexafluoride UF₆ is reacted with hydrogen 2 to produce uranium tetrafluoride (UF₄) 10, FIG. 1. The UF₄ 10 is combined with a solid oxidizing agent 12, and the combination is heated 14 below the vapor or melting point of UF₄ 10 to produce uranium oxide and a fluorine compound 26 without uranium carryover. The non-radioactive fluorine compound is then removed 18, for example by gas separation, leaving only the completely reacted uranium oxide 20, and collected 22.

The UF₄, or green salt, which may be granular, is combined in stoichiometric proportion to the oxidizing agent, block 24, FIG. 2. This ensures that the UF₄ is completely reacted. The oxidizing agent may be mixed, however, in slight excess of its stoichiometric proportion. The oxidizing agent is chosen such that it has a lower thermodynamic stability than any oxide of uranium, UO₂ or U₃ O₈, which may be produced. This is done so that when the combination is heated to sufficiently react the oxidizing agent with the uranium tetrafluoride, block 26, the solid oxide compound readily gives up its oxygen and an oxide of uranium and a volatile, or gaseous, fluorine compound are produced, block 28. In some instances oxygen may be added, block 25 shown in phantom, in the form of dry air for example, in order to obtain a desired oxide of uranium.

However, the combination is heated, block 269 only to a temperature below the melting point, or at most the vapor point of the uranium tetrafluoride and oxidizing agent, typically within a temperature range of 400° C. to 100° C. Heating the combination below the vapor point or melting point of either component prevents vaporization of the uranium, ensuring that the uranium does not enter the gaseous phase and thus contaminate the fluorine product with radioactive uranium, and that the fluorine compound produced is not contaminated by any other compound, but remains essentially pure.

Moreover, heating the stoichiometric combination below either the vapor or melting point of UI₄ further ensures that the UF₄ completely reacts with the oxidizing agent, because no unreacted uranium is lost to the fluorine compound. Producing a volatile or gaseous fluorine compound allows the uranium oxide and fluorine compound to be easily separated so that the nonradioactive fluorine compound may be removed, block 30.

Once the fluorine compound has been removed, block 32, for example by scrubbing the fluorine compound using an adsorbent bed or trapping the fluorine compound with a reactive agent to separate out the fluorine compound, the fluorine compound can be collected, block 34. This is not a necessary limitation of the invention, however, as the fluorine compound may be directly collected. The fluorine compound is recovered from the bed material or trap residue through heat decomposition, well known in the art.

Thus, by heating the UF₄ below its vapor or melting point ensures not only that the fluorine compound is not contaminated by unreacted uranium, but that all the uranium tetrafluoride is reacted due to the stoichiometric proportions in which the combination was mixed and the elimination of uranium carryover, producing a valuable oxide of uranium.

Choosing an oxidizing agent having a lower thermodynamic stability than any oxide of uranium which may be produced, as determined by the enthalpy of formation, further ensures the uranium tetrafluoride is completely reacted.

For example, U₃ O₈ has a an enthalpy of formation of 854.1 kcal/mole, as shown in Table 1.

                  TABLE 1     ______________________________________               ENTHALPY OF FORMATION     OXIDE     (-ΔH.sub.f ° 298)kcal/mole     ______________________________________     U.sub.3 O.sub.8               854.1     UO.sub.2  259.0     B.sub.2 O.sub.3               306.1     ______________________________________

When the oxidizing agent is a metal oxide such as B₂ O₃, having an enthalpy of formation of 306.1 kcal/mole, the B₂ O₃ readily gives up its oxygen which is readily accepted by the uranium to produce, UO₂ and U₃ O₈ and BF₃ according to the reactions

    3UF.sub.4 (s)+2B.sub.2 O.sub.3 (s)+O.sub.2 (g)→U.sub.3 O.sub.8 (s)+4BF.sub.3 (g)                                         (1)

    3UF.sub.4 (s)+2B.sub.2 O.sub.3 (sl )→3UO.sub.2 (s)+4BF.sub.3 (g)(2)

Other oxides that may be used and the fluorine compounds that may be produced are shown in Table 2.

                  TABLE 2     ______________________________________                  Enthalpy of Formation     Solid Oxide Compound                  (-ΔH.sub.f °298)                                Fluorine Compound     ______________________________________     P.sub.2 O.sub.5                  356           PF.sub.5     GeO.sub.2    132           GeF.sub.2 /GeF.sub.4     As.sub.2 O.sub.5                  218           AsF.sub.3     Tl.sub.2 O.sub.3                   84           TlF     Sb.sub.2 O.sub.3                  169           SbF.sub.3 /SbF.sub.5     TiO          124           TiF.sub.4     ZrO.sub.2    259           ZrF.sub.4     WO.sub.3     201           WF.sub.6     NbO.sub.2    190           NbF.sub.5     ______________________________________

However, this is not a necessary limitation of the invention as these oxides exist in multiple oxidation states, well known in the art. Thus, different oxides of phosphorous (P), germanium (Ge), arsenic (As), thallium (Tl), antimony (Sb), titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr), Tungsten (W), or Niobium (Nb) may be used as an oxidizing agent in addition to those described above.

Examples of the reactions which produce the above compounds include:

    15UF.sub.4 +6P.sub.2 O.sub.5 +5O.sub.2 →5U.sub.3 O.sub.8 +12PF.sub.5(3)

    UF.sub.4 +GeO.sub.2 →UO.sub.2 +GeF.sub.4            (4)

    3UF.sub.4 +2As.sub.2 O.sub.5 →U.sub.3 O.sub.8 +4AsF.sub.3 +O.sub.2(5)

    3UF.sub.4 +6Tl.sub.2 O.sub.3 →U.sub.3 O.sub.8 +12TlF+5O.sub.2(6)

    3UF.sub.4 +2Sb.sub.2 O.sub.3 +O.sub.2 →U.sub.3 O.sub.8 +4SbF.sub.3(7)

    2UF.sub.4 +2TiO+O.sub.2 →2UO.sub.2 +2TiF.sub.4      (8)

    UF.sub.4 +ZrO.sub.2 →UO.sub.2 +ZrF.sub.4            (9)

    3UF.sub.4 +2WO.sub.3 +O.sub.2 →U.sub.3 O.sub.8 +2WF.sub.6(10)

    5UF.sub.4 +4NbO.sub.2 +O.sub.2 →5UO.sub.2 +4NbF.sub.5(11)

    UF.sub.4 +2GeO→UO.sub.2 +2GeF.sub.2                 (12)

    15UF.sub.4 +6Sb.sub.2 O.sub.3 +11O.sub.2 →5U.sub.3 O.sub.8 +12SbF.sub.5                                              (13)

Depending on the oxide chosen, additional oxygen, O₂, may be introduced to the reaction in order to obtain the desired oxide of uranium, UO₂ or U₃ O₈.

EXAMPLE

An amount of 9.9 grams of uranium tetrafluoride was combined with 3.0 grams of boric oxide. The combination was vigorously shaken for ten minutes to thoroughly mix the combination. The combination 36, FEC. 3, was transferred to a high density, non-porous, alumina (99.8%) ceramic crucible 38. The crucible was then placed at the bottom of larger vessel 40, made of the same material and sealed with corrosion resistant monel metal cap 42 and ultra high temperature RTV silicon gasket compound 44. Cap 42 has inlet ports 46 and outlet port 48 for allowing the gas to flow through vessel 40.

Sealed vessel 40 was placed in a crucible furnace, not shown. For this particular example, inlet ports 46 were capped and second vessel 50, containing sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for scrubbing the reaction effluent, was connected to outlet port 48.

Vessel 40 was heated to 600° C. in 3°/min. increments and maintained for three hours thereafter. Vessel 40 was cooled to ambient temperature in 3°/min. increments and crucible 38 removed from vessel 40. Post reaction residue 52, shown in phantom, was black color, and flowed easily from crucible 38.

Conversion of UF₄ to U₃ O₈ and UO₂ was essentially complete, nearly 100% yield as determined by percent dissolution in nitric acid. Uranium oxides, namely UO₂ and U₃ O₈, are very soluble in concentrated nitric acid while UF₄ is relatively inert and is slow and difficult to dissolve. This characteristic can be used to test for the presence of unreacted UF₄ in the residue of the reactor chamber. One gram of residue is added to 5 ml of concentrated nitric acid followed by the addition of 3 ml of distilled H₂ O. The resultant mixture is then thoroughly stirred for twenty minutes after which the solution is filtered to separate any undissolved solids. The filtered solids are then washed thoroughly with H₂ O, dried and weighed. The percent of unreacted UF₄ is calculated as follows:

% Unreacted UF₄ =(weight of filter residue/one gram of initial solid residue)×100

The overall reaction yield is given by:

Yield=100- % Unreacted UF₄

Verification of complete reaction of the products to produce oxides of uranium was achieved using x-ray powder diffraction analysis on post reaction residue 52. X-ray diffraction pattern 54, F1G. 4, of the product residue was compared to a standard x-ray diffraction reference pattern 56, for UO₂. The correlation of peaks 101-115 of reaction pattern 54 with peaks 101'-115' of UO₂ reference pattern 56 indicates the presence of UO₂ in post reaction residue, 52, FIG. 3.

Similarly, the correlation of peaks 201-219 of reaction residue pattern 54, FIG. 5, with peaks 201'-219' of U₃ O₈ reference pattern 58 indicates the presence of U₃ O₈ in post reaction residue 52, FIG. 3. The absence of non-correlating peaks, when FIGS. 4 and 5 are taken as a whole, confirms the absense of unreacted uranium.

Verification of the fluorine compound may be done in several ways to include collection of the gaseous BF₃ and performing gas analysis, passing the fluorine compound over an adsorbent bed and analyzing the bed material, or chemically reacting the fluorine compound in a trap and analyzing the product using x-ray diffraction as discussed above.

The reaction occurring in the trap in this particular example is given by the equations:

    6NaOH+8BF.sub.3 →B.sub.2 O.sub.3 +6NaBF.sub.4 +3H.sub.2 O(12)

    2BF.sub.3 +3NaOH→3NaF+B.sub.2 O.sub.3 +HF           (13)

Verification of BF₃ was done indirectly using x-ray diffraction on the sodium fluoride (NaF) and sodium fluoroborate (NaBF₄) produced. X-ray diffraction pattern 60, FIG. 6, of the reaction residue was compared to theoretical reference pattern 62 for NaF. The correlation of peaks 301-310 of reaction pattern 60 and peaks 302'-320' of theoretical reference pattern 62 indicates the presence of BF₃ in the residue.

Similarly, verification of NaBF₄ was done using x-ray diffraction. X-ray diffraction pattern 60, FIG. 7, of the trap reaction residue was compared to theoretical reference pattern 64 for NaBF₄. The correlation of peaks 401-412 of reaction pattern 60 and peaks 401'-412' of theoretical reference pattern 64 indicates the presence of NaBF₄, and thus indicates the presence of BF₃.

Thus, verification of NaF and NaBF₄ indirectly verifies the presence of BF₃ based on the equations (3) and (4) set forth the above. Moreover, the absense of non-correlating peaks confirms the absense of unreacted uranium. The BF₃ may be collected through heat decomposition of NaBF₄ by heating the trap residue to 400° C.

Thus, the method according to the present invention not only reacts all of the uranium, but produces a fluorine compound of very high purity by heating the stoichiometric combination below the vapor or melting point of the uranium tetrafluoiride and the metal oxide. The uranium tetrafluoride completely reacts to produce uranium oxide without radioactive carryover into the fluorine compound by-product producing a commercially valuable product without requiring additional processing or low level radioactive storage. Converting uranium oxide from uranium tetrafluoride, rather than directly from uranium hexafluoride, produces less radioactive and diluted HF than if all the fluorine value in UF₆ was converted to HF.

Although specific features of this invention are shown in some drawings and not others, this is for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the invention.

Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the following claims: 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for producing uranium oxide comprising:combining uranium tetrafluoride and a solid oxidizing agent; heating the combination below the vapor point of the uranium tetrafluoride to sufficiently react to the uranium tetrafluoride and the oxidizing agent to produce uranium oxide and a non-radioactive fluorine compound, the oxidizing agent having a lower thermodynamic stability than the uranium oxide; and removing the fluorine compound.
 2. The method of claim 1 in which combining includes combining the uranium tetrafluoride and the oxidizing agent in stoichiometric proportion.
 3. The method of claim 2 in which the oxidizing agent includes a solid metal oxide that reacts with the uranium tetrafluoride to produce a volatile fluorine compound.
 4. The method of claim 2 in which the oxidizing agent includes a solid metal oxide that reacts with uranium tetrafluoride to produce a gaseous fluorine compound.
 5. The method of claim 1 in which heating further includes introducing oxygen to the reaction.
 6. The method of claim 1 in which heating includes heating the combination in the temperature range of 400° C. to 1000° C.
 7. The method of claim 6 in which the oxidizing agent is selected from the group of oxides of phosphorus, germanium, arsenic, thallium, antimony, titanium, zirconium, tungsten and niobium.
 8. The method of claim 7 in which the uranium oxide produced includes U₃ O₈.
 9. The method of claim 8 in which the fluorine compound includes PF₅.
 10. The method of claim 8 i which the fluorine compound includes AsF₃.
 11. The method of claim 8 in which the fluorine compound includes TlF.
 12. The method of claim 8 in which the fluorine compound includes a fluoride of antimony.
 13. The method of claim 8 in which the fluorine compound includes WF₆.
 14. The method of claim 8 in which the fluorine compound includes NbF₅.
 15. The method of claim 7 in which the uranium oxide produced includes UO₂.
 16. The method of claim 15 in which the fluorine compound includes a fluoride of germanium.
 17. The method of claim 15 in which the fluorine compound includes TiF₄.
 18. The method of claim 15 in which the fluorine compound includes ZrF₄.
 19. The method of claim 1 in which the oxidizing agent includes B₂ O₃.
 20. The method of claim 19 in which the uranium oxide produced includes U₃ O₈.
 21. The method of claim 20 in which the fluorine compound includes BF₃.
 22. The method of claim 1 in which the uranium tetrafluoride includes powdered uranium tetrafluoride.
 23. The method of claim 22 in which the oxidizing agent includes a granular oxidizing agent.
 24. The method of claim 22 in which the oxidizing agent include a powdered oxidizing agent.
 25. The method of claim 1 in which heating further includes heating the combination below the melting point of the oxidizing agent.
 26. The method of claim 1 in which heating further includes heating the combination below the melting point of the uranium tetrafluoride. 